


Eight Days a Week

by Hokuto



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Families of Choice, Fluff, Gen, Kid Fic, M/M, Minor Character(s), Nonnies Made Me Do It, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-28
Updated: 2013-10-03
Packaged: 2017-12-03 22:14:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/703209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hokuto/pseuds/Hokuto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every shinobi has a weak point - and Iruka's is orphans.  AU where Iruka adopts <em>everyone</em>; contains what is probably some quite egregious timeline fudging in the service of fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Leaf

**Author's Note:**

> I was dared to write it by people who know who they are, and that's the story I'm sticking to. I promise I haven't abandoned "(Nice Dream)" at all, I just - the fluff called to me, okay. Still writing so I don't have a set update schedule, sorry, but I have a plan! I swear!
> 
> ... title subject to change if a better one occurs to me, for which I am very sorry. At least it's not Radiohead lyrics this time?

No one knew exactly when the cracks in Iruka had started to appear. He was a cheerful, friendly, open sort of person, but open in that way common among shinobi where the emotions that showed easily were not necessarily the ones felt, and he did work with children, a position that involved nearly as much lying, subterfuge, and manipulation as the most delicate intelligence work. For all anyone knew, it might have begun the day Uzumaki Naruto came to school with a hole in his shirt the size of a fist and said he didn't have the money for a new one. Or the day Iruka had waited with Rock Lee at the gate to the Academy for five hours before an ANBU in a boar mask had shown up to tell Lee his mother had been killed on a mission to Iwa, the body unrecoverable. Or perhaps earlier, when Iruka had survived the Kyuubi's attack while his parents died along with Lee's father and so many others, or even earlier than that, when Iruka had helped his mother in the tents of the field medics during the war by bringing water to wounded genin and chuunin no older than himself.

Everyone, however, knew that Iruka's breaking point came on the day Uchiha Sasuke showed up to class with dark hollows under his eyes, a bandage around one arm, and a note from the Hokage excusing his absence of the last week due to the tragic loss of his family and need to relocate to a single apartment.

Iruka read the note very thoroughly, and with every word his expressive face grew more and more still. As Sasuke began to slouch towards his seat, Iruka looked up from the note and said, "Thank you for bringing this in, Sasuke, but I'd still like to talk to you after school, all right?"

Sasuke glared at him, but nodded. From his seat at the back of the class Naruto scowled, muttering something under his breath, and Iruka said, "Actually, I'd like to talk to you after school too, Naruto."

"Aww, man..."

"And no whining about it!" Iruka smiled broadly at the rest of the class. "Now, let's get started - today we're going to work on -"

Of all the children in this particular Academy class, Nara Shikamaru was likely the most observant, though he rarely put the skill to much use; he still couldn't help but notice that there was something forced about Iruka's smile, which was out of the ordinary for their teacher. He passed this observation along to his best friend Chouji, who whispered, "Maybe he's just worried about Sasuke-kun - I heard all the other Uchiha got killed, it's pretty awful."

"Hn. Maybe."

True to his word, Iruka kept both Naruto and Sasuke after school, and as Shikamaru was heading out the door with Chouji he said, "Shikamaru, could you go to the next class and get a student named Rock Lee for me? I need to talk to him as well. Thank you, I really appreciate it."

Shikamaru resented the extra work, but disobeying Iruka would be even more troublesome, so he promised to meet Chouji at the candy store later and went to fetch Lee from the next classroom over.

No one but those present in the room at the time ever knew exactly what Iruka said to the three orphans that afternoon. Shikamaru was much too lazy and generally solitary to gossip, and it wasn't until several weeks later that he even thought to tell Chouji the little snippet of conversation he had overheard before opening the classroom door for Lee.

"- going to eat?"

"... I can make rice balls."

"For every single meal?"

"There's instant ramen, too, yanno! I'm real good at instant ramen!"

"Those are _not_ proper - oh, Lee, there you are! Thank you again, Shikamaru, you can go now. And don't slack off on your homework!"

As Shikamaru had shut the door behind him, he had heard Iruka start to ask Lee something about his family, but he couldn't muster the energy to try and listen in any further. Eavesdropping on arguments like that was simply too much trouble.

Chouji's only outward reaction to this reported conversation was an expression of deep sympathy for both Sasuke and Naruto, who had clearly been living on diets of unhealthy barbecue deprivation.

* * *

The teller at the civilian bank branch closest to Iruka's apartment knew Iruka by sight and name, but she had never seen the three children who followed him in ten minutes before the bank was due to close. One hung back, sullen and glaring at everything in the nearly deserted building; the other two were squabbling cheerfully over some childish dispute she couldn't quite follow.

"Shimada-san, I'm sorry to come in so late," Iruka said, with an embarrassed smile, "but I'm afraid I need to close out my accounts - Naruto, quit poking Lee!"

"I'm sorry to hear that, Iruka-san," Shimada said, with a touch of genuine regret. She'd always looked forward to Iruka-san's visits; he was the least weird of the shinobi who banked with them, always polite and patient and willing to chat a little on slow days. "Is there a problem with our services?"

"No, no! I just - I'm going to need a lot of cash, I'm afraid. I've always been happy with - yes, Naruto?"

"I wanna get my money out, too!" The blond kid beamed up at Shimada, and she found herself smiling back; he had an adorably infectious smile, despite the odd scratches on his face. "We're gonna have an adventure, so I need my money, yanno, just in case!"

"What money, dumbass?" the sullen boy said.

"I got some! 'S an allowance or something. I'm real good at saving it!"

The third boy, who had strangely round eyes and glossy black hair in a long braid, said hesitantly, "Iruka-sensei, may I also withdraw my money?"

"Are you sure you want to do that, Lee?" Iruka asked, looking down at him.

"Yes!" Lee said, his voice strengthening. "It isn't much, but my mother left me all the money she had, and I want to use it to help support my new family!"

"That - that's very thoughtful of you," Iruka said, "though I hope it won't be necessary..." He turned back to Shimada. "It seems like we'll all be making withdrawals - I hope it isn't too much trouble."

"Not at all, Iruka-san," she said, squashing all thoughts of the paperwork she'd have to do before she could go home that night. "Why don't we start with your accounts?"

As they talked, Naruto grinned at Lee and said, "Hey, you're pretty cool after all, fuzzy-eyebrows!"

"You - really think so?"

"Yeah! That was a cool thing to say, yanno?"

The sullen boy hmphed, but after Lee and Naruto had gotten their turns at scrawling on the forms that would close out their accounts and received their ryo - a pitifully small amount for Naruto, a decent sum for Lee - he too stepped up to withdraw some money from an account that had so many zeroes in it Shimada had trouble breathing for a moment. "But I'm not closing mine," he told her with a ferocious scowl. "I just need some for now."

"All right, ah - Sasuke-kun," she said, glancing down at the neat signature, and handed him his ryo as quickly as possible. She didn't know what such an unpleasant child was doing with Iruka-san and the other perfectly nice boys.

As Iruka herded them to the door, telling Naruto not now, he could count it up _later_ , Shimada called after him, "Good luck, Iruka-san!"

He waved back at her, and with the memory of his warm smile lingering in her mind, she resigned herself to a little overtime.

* * *

When Iruka, Sasuke, Naruto, and Lee failed to appear at the Academy the next morning, the first places to be investigated were their apartments. Sasuke's apartment was as empty and bare as if it had never been lived in, even for the day he had spent in it; Naruto's contained only a few bits of worn or too-small clothing, a half-drunk carton of expired milk in the refrigerator, and the lingering smell of old ramen; Lee's was nearly as empty as Sasuke's, save for a battered training dummy and a broken hairbrush.

In Iruka's apartment, the investigating jounin found a slightly worn forehead protector and a note on the low table in the living room, the latter addressed to the Hokage:

_I, Umino Iruka, formally resign from my position as a teacher at the Konoha Ninja Academy, and from the ranks of the active shinobi. I am also taking custody of the orphans Rock Lee, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto, and I will raise, train, and provide for them to the best of my ability. Although I have decided to leave Konoha to give us all a fresh start, I swear that none of us will ever raise a hand to harm the village or the Land of Fire, or to aid its enemies. Please let all my students know that I'll miss them very much, but this is the course I've decided to take, and I hope that they will all work hard to become great shinobi of the Leaf._

In a slightly shakier hand was written, _I never wanted to disappoint you, Hokage-sama. I just can't let these children grow up as alone as I did. I'm sorry, and I hope you can understand; I will always be grateful to you, and Konoha will always be my home, but I have to do this._

The village council and the Hokage argued behind closed doors for a day and a half, while the on-duty ANBU made idle bets as to how long it would take to track down a mediocre chuunin teacher hauling around three kids. Almost all of them were shocked when the Hokage announced that while Umino Iruka would be greatly missed, his decision to leave Konoha would be respected and he would not be marked down as a missing-nin. None of them, however, were surprised when the Hokage added that in the interest of safety - Iruka and the children's, of course - it would be for the best if no word of this situation escaped the village. Ever. And particularly not the disappearance of either Uzumaki Naruto or Uchiha Sasuke, due to reasons which unfortunately could not be disclosed at the present time.

Intra-village gossip could not be stopped, however, and there was talk for weeks about how Iruka had always seemed so nice, such a hard-working young man, who would have thought he had it in him? Really, young shinobi these days, no wonder he'd never made jounin... Lee, sadly, was little missed, as few people beyond Iruka had ever taken note of him; the loss of Naruto caused more than one discreet but relieved drinking party, as various chuunin and ANBU members celebrated never having to clean up after his pranks again, and a few for less mentionable reasons. As for Sasuke, there was a brief mourning period among the girls of his class, but the new teacher assigned to the class kept them all too busy for much more than the occasional sigh.

"It's still a shame, though," Yamanaka Ino was overheard whispering to her new best friend, Haruno Sakura, "that Sasuke was the only cool guy in class - everyone else is, like, a real loser!"

"I - I guess..."

"Well, we'll just have to stick together and be the coolest people here, right?" Ino said, and she was rewarded with Sakura's brightest smile, which drove all nascent thoughts of boys right out of Ino's head.

Iruka, of course, remained completely unaware of the general amnesty, which was just as well; not an hour after the Hokage's announcement that Iruka and the children were to be left alone, in a secret room deep with ANBU headquarters, Shimura Danzo was giving very different orders to a group of people who were not supposed to exist.

"I want them all found and brought back to Konoha as soon as possible," he said. "Without attracting that fool Sarutobi's attention. And Uchiha Sasuke most of all."


	2. Fire and Water

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! It's been a rough month, what can I say.

Iruka had never made a conscious plan, but as soon as he and the kids had gotten out of Konoha, it seemed like one sprang full-formed into his mind, and for lack of any better options he followed it.

They walked as far as they could that first night; it wasn't as far as Iruka would have liked, but he didn't want to risk pushing the kids too hard. At least they were tired enough that they didn't complain at a cold dinner of leftover noodles Iruka had taken from his apartment - getting serious traveling supplies was high on Iruka's to-do list, but he hadn't wanted to raise too much suspicion before leaving - and fell asleep with a minimum of fussing and fighting over who got the softest bit of ground. Iruka didn't sleep at all. Someone had to keep watch, and it was not going to be one of the kids.

The next day Iruka got them up bright and early - with a certain amount of complaining from Naruto - and they kept going, heading west and slightly south towards the Land of Water. It was a foolish hope, perhaps, but Konoha's relationship with Kirigakure was a little rocky at present, and Iruka hoped that it would be the last direction that a search team would check. He hadn't seen or sensed any hints of pursuit so far, but that was no guarantee; still, he set a slower pace than he had the night before, and didn't make more than a token effort to keep Naruto and Lee quiet. He had thought of Lee as a rather shy child, but in the company of Naruto Lee was proving to be quite energetic. Iruka would have to find some way to channel that energy, but at the moment he was just relieved that they were both getting along well and too excited to be out of Konoha on an adventure to question Iruka's plans. Sasuke barely spoke unless necessary, which worried Iruka, but that was just one of many things he couldn't do anything about until they got farther from Konoha.

Around mid-day, when Iruka let them stop for a break and a quick lunch - rice balls, which he had helped Sasuke make before they left Konoha - Naruto said, "Iruka-sensei, Iruka-sensei! Are you gonna keep teaching us stuff so we can be great ninja?"

"Ah, well - I don't suppose I'd be any good at teaching you to be civilians..." Iruka thought fast; he hadn't planned on doing any teaching till they'd found a place to settle down, but if Naruto was willing to learn for once, then Iruka might as well take advantage of the opportunity.

"I'm sure Iruka-sensei could be an excellent civilian teacher if he wanted to be!" Lee said; sitting a little apart from the rest of them, Sasuke snorted, and earned dirty looks from both Lee and Naruto.

"It's kind of you to say so, Lee," Iruka said, "but I think for now we'll stick with regular shinobi training. As long as you three can listen and walk at the same time."

They could, though not very well in Naruto's case, and in no time Iruka had developed a schedule: physical exercises in the morning before they started walking, a break for lunch and whatever math or history he could get Naruto to pay attention to, then ninjutsu practice and theory in the afternoon as they kept walking. Sasuke trained with a frightening ferocity and no patience for Naruto's playing around; Lee, though technically more advanced than both of the younger boys, worked hard but seemed to have no ability to perform ninjutsu or genjutsu whatsoever, which put him at a disadvantage compared to the other two. Iruka didn't want to give up on teaching Lee ninjutsu too fast, but he decided that he might try to concentrate on the boy's taijutsu for the moment and come up with a plan for working on his ninjutsu later, when they weren't constantly on the move.

On the third day out from Konoha, the small amount of food Iruka had been able to pack for them ran out. He had anticipated this, and when they stopped for the evening it was within running distance of a village; he found a decent-sized hollow in a tree with good cover around it, sat the kids down, and said, "All right, guys, I'm going to get us some fresh supplies. I should be back pretty soon, but while I'm gone, I need you all to stay put and stay quiet, and don't come out unless you see me give you the hand-sign for leaf. Sasuke -" Sasuke looked up from his intense glaring at the ground. "- you're in charge until I get back, so make sure everyone does what I said."

"Hey, how come _he_ gets to be in charge? He's a jerk! No fair!"

"Because I said so, that's why!" Iruka took a deep breath and said more calmly, "It'll be your turn to be in charge next time, okay, Naruto? This is only until I get back."

"Fiiiiiiiiiine..." Naruto kicked his heels against the ground. "At least you're gonna bring us back some ramen, right? Right?"

"We'll see," Iruka said, making an executive decision that instant ramen no longer counted as actual ramen. If he could find a good ramen stall, on the other hand... "Remember, don't come out till I give you the hand-sign! And Sasuke, this is a serious responsibility, so no abusing your power."

Sasuke didn't quite smile, but Iruka was willing to take any change in his expression as a good sign and smiled at him before performing a quick transformation and leaving.

He was as quick as he could be, but it still took him a good two hours to find everything he wanted without spending too much, to check the posted notices and news for anything about them, and to return to the camp; he hadn't found their names in any of the notices, but that had only convinced him that there must be a covert search going on, and the entire way back he'd been terrified that he was running towards an empty tree and an ANBU trap. The dead silence when he returned sent his heart into his throat until he remembered the signal. He dropped the transformation and signed _leaf_ , and before he could take another step Naruto and Lee had pounced, clamoring to know what he'd gotten. Sasuke appeared only a moment behind them, a brief flicker of relief crossing his face before it was replaced with his usual glower.

"Iruka-sensei, Iruka-sensei, you got ramen right? I can totally smell it!" Naruto said, bouncing up and down.

In answer, Iruka held up one of the shopping bags, from which the rich smell of fresh ramen drifted. "The best I could find," he said, grinning, and both Lee and Naruto cheered, while Sasuke made a face. He ate every bite of the bowl that Iruka had brought him, though.

* * *

After that, Iruka tried to make sure they stopped near a town every other day, leaving Naruto, Lee, and Sasuke in charge in turns while he disguised himself with different transformations to get fresh supplies and sometimes takeout ramen - not too often, though, to Naruto's dismay. It would never have taken him so long to reach the Land of Water traveling alone, but with the kids he had to set a slower pace, especially with his attempts at on-the-go teaching; trying to stay near roads and villages without getting so close they could be easily spotted, as well as avoiding the usual routes covered by patrols from Konoha, meant that their trail zigged and zagged across the Land of Fire, adding several miles to their journey. The leisurely pace at least gave him time to consider whether he really wanted to cross the border. Konoha was unlikely to chase them into another country and risk upsetting the fragile peace with Kirigakure, but by the same token, neither Kiri nor the Land of Water were likely to welcome them with open arms; still, if they kept to the forests and stayed out of the way of the country's shinobi... That question was not the only thing that kept Iruka awake at nights, but it was the most urgent.

The evening after that first trip to a village, Iruka was patiently going over the transformation jutsu with Naruto and Lee while Sasuke, who already had the basic principles down, watched over the vegetable stew that Iruka had gotten started earlier. As usual, Naruto was fidgety and distracted, more interested in the food than the lesson; Lee was listening fiercely, but when he focused and made the seals for the transformation, there was no reaction at all, not even a brief flare of chakra.

Lee's whole face fell, wrenching at Iruka's heart. "It's all right, Lee," he said, "plenty of people have trouble with this technique at first. Let's just start again with collecting your chakra and -"

"I can't, Iruka-sensei," said Lee, his voice terribly small. "I - I just can't do those techniques, no matter how hard I try. I'm sorry."

"What kind of ninja can't do ninjutsu?" Sasuke said, and Lee flushed.

"Hey, I bet fuzzy-eyebrows can be an _awesome_ ninja!" Naruto glared furiously at Sasuke. "We're both gonna great ninja, just wait and see! Way greater than you!"

"Naruto, I wish you'd forget that nickname - but you're right," Iruka said. He put a hand on Lee's shoulder. "Lee, ninjutsu may never be your strong point, but that's not the only way to be a good ninja. Whether you learn these techniques or not, as long as you keep working hard, I know that you'll become an excellent shinobi."

"Do you really think so?" Lee asked, his eyes wide and slightly wobbly.

"I don't just think it - I know it," said Iruka. "You're still one of my students, after all! In a way... So there's no giving up, you got that?"

"Yes, sensei!"

Sasuke slapped Naruto's hand away from the pot as he tried to sneak a spoonful of stew and said, "Whatever. Just don't hold me back."

"There's no way!" Lee jumped up and flung his arms out dramatically. "I'm going to work extra hard and become a great ninja, even if I can only use taijutsu! I promise!"

"Yeah, that's the spirit, fuzzy-eyebrows!"

"Naruto, what did I just tell you about that name?"

The next night, after they had eaten and Iruka had dunked them all in the stream nearby to get them as clean as he could reasonably manage under the circumstances, he noticed that Lee was having some trouble re-braiding his hair. "Do you want me to help with that?" he offered, moved by old memories of his mother brushing his hair after a bath and him trying to return the favor. "I'm pretty sure I remember how to do a decent braid..."

"Actually, sensei, I -" Lee's face reddened. "I want to wear my hair like yours!"

Iruka covered his instinctive laugh with a cough and said, "Well, still, why don't you come over here and I'll help you? It's pretty simple."

Lee's hair was deceptively thick and turned out to have an exceptionally strong wave to it as it dried; Iruka had a bit of a struggle brushing it, and the resulting ponytail he forced it into looked more like an octopus than a ponytail. There was still something deeply satisfying in the simple act of brushing out the tangles in Lee's hair (along with a few bits of damp weed from the stream), and the look on Lee's face when he saw his reflection in the water, the octopus-tail sticking out in all directions behind his head, was worth any amount of trouble.

"It's _perfect_ ," Lee said, and suddenly he was - not so much hugging Iruka, but throwing himself full-body at Iruka and clinging to him like a limpet. "Thank you, sensei! Thank you for everything!"

Iruka hugged him back, and a small tensed part of himself that he had hardly been aware of relaxed. "It's my pleasure," he said, smiling. "Though I guess I'm not really your teacher anymore, so you guys shouldn't be calling me 'sensei' - just Iruka is fine." He looked up and over Lee's head and caught Naruto staring at them with an envious expression; feeling a little mischievous, he said, "Oi, Naruto, what's the matter? Do you want me to brush your hair, too?"

"Blech, no way! I can do it myself, yanno!" Naruto stuck his tongue out and scrubbed vigorously at his already-dry hair until Iruka snagged him with one hand, dragged him back over to the stream, and set about brushing Naruto's hair. Naruto wriggled at first and made a few token protests, but his giant grin belied his grumpy noises. "I don't want a ponytail, though," he said, "that's totally not my style!"

"Your hair's not long enough for one, anyway," Iruka said, wondering how hair as short as Naruto's had managed to get so many tangles. When he had gotten out as many as he could, he ran his fingers through it so it would spike up properly the way Naruto liked it, and Naruto beamed up at him.

"That wasn't so bad, Iruka-sen- I mean, Iruka," he said, and then he got a mischievous look of his own. "Hey, you oughtta do Sasuke's next! Then maybe his head won't look like a duck's butt, yanno."

"Shut up, loser," Sasuke snapped; he had been sitting apart from the rest of them and pointedly ignoring their conversation up to that point, but now he glared daggers at Naruto.

"I'm just sayin', if you don't wanna look like a duck's butt..."

"Naruto, that's enough," Iruka said. "Sasuke, I'd be happy to -"

"Leave me alone!" Sasuke grabbed his pack and stalked off to sit farther downstream, his back to them, though he stayed within Iruka's line of sight.

"Geez, what's his problem, anyway?" Naruto said, scowling. "I was just jokin' around, yanno - he didn't have to be like that."

Iruka dug his elbow into the top of Naruto's head. "Do you remember anything I say? He just lost his family - of course he's not going to be interested in fooling around."

"Oh. Yeah..." Naruto hmmed to himself, thinking it over, and then said, "Sorry, Iruka-sensei, I forgot. Hey, jerkface!" he yelled. "I'm sorry I made fun of your stupid hair!"

Sasuke's shoulders hunched, and he failed to turn around.

"Naruto-kun, that's not really a very good apology," Lee said. "It should be more - not insulting?"

"Well, but his hair _is_ stupid..."

Iruka let them argue it out for a few minutes before convincing them to sleep; after they were both snoring, Sasuke edged his way back a little closer to the camp and resettled himself, falling asleep not long after. Iruka stayed up to keep watch, as usual, and to think.

Sometime soon, he would really have to talk with Sasuke.

* * *

Sasuke hated everything.

He hated walking and walking without a real destination. He hated sleeping on the ground and washing up in streams or ponds. He hated ramen, although he ate it anyway whenever Iruka brought it back because he hated getting dragged into fights with Naruto about it even more. He hated the endless, boring forest that never seemed to change. He hated Naruto for being loud and obnoxious and stupid, and he hated Lee for being loud and stupid and bad at ninjutsu. He hated having to stop and hide whenever Iruka thought he heard something suspicious, and he hated being left behind with the two losers whenever Iruka went shopping, especially when one of them was "in charge," as if either Lee or Naruto could possibly handle any real trouble.

He felt like he ought to hate Iruka, but somehow he couldn't manage it. He needed to save some hatred for his - for a certain person, anyway. All the other hatreds paled in comparison to that one.

He was preoccupied with nursing that hatred as he threw kunai at the makeshift target Iruka had set up for them to practice on and barely noticed when Lee and Naruto were called away from the target. He just kept throwing and retrieving the blunted practice kunai, his mind's eye aiming at another, far-away target, until Iruka caught his hand and said, "It's getting dark - I think it's time to take a break, don't you?"

Sasuke blinked and realized that it had gotten dark, almost too dark to see the target. He also finally became fully aware that Naruto and Lee were gone; he looked around and saw that they were a safe distance away, messing around with something by the tiny campfire that was as large as Iruka would allow.

"I asked them to start dinner," Iruka said, following Sasuke's gaze, "which I hope was a better idea than it seems like right now... I wanted a chance to talk to you without them hanging around for once." He settled down on a mossy log, and after a moment Sasuke sat at the opposite end, his eyes on the ground.

Iruka sighed. "I know I've mostly been paying attention to Naruto and Lee these last few days," he said, "because - well, because they need a lot of attention, really. And they actually want it... That's not really like you, though, right?"

Sasuke kept staring at the leaf-covered earth. He didn't like looking Iruka in the face lately; even if Naruto and Lee were too dumb to notice that Iruka stayed up long after they went to sleep and got up well before they did, Sasuke had, and the hollows developing under Iruka's eyes reminded him too much of that person.

"I guess we've already talked about the most important things," Iruka said. "And people - everyone has to handle their problems in their own way. I don't want to make you talk if you don't want to, or anything like that, but I do want you to know that if there's anything you need, I'm here. If you want to talk, or well - anything. Hm, like an older brother, I guess?"

"No!" _I'll always be there, like an obstacle for you to get over..._ "Not like - you can't -" Sasuke's hands gripped the edge of his shirt so tightly his knuckles had gone white. He couldn't explain the instinctive denial without talking about everything, and he couldn't - not yet. Maybe never. Not to Iruka.

"Okay, okay, definitely not like an older brother." Iruka had gradually moved so he was sitting right next to Sasuke instead of at the log's other end, and he carefully tugged Sasuke's shirt out of his hands. "Maybe - well, maybe not anything like family, but I'll still always be here." He got a little quieter as he said, "I know it's hard right now, and it could be a long time before it gets any easier, but you don't have to deal with it alone. You've got me, and Naruto and Lee if you'd stop avoiding them all the time. And wherever they are, your parents will always be watching you, and if they're anything like mine -" Iruka's voice caught slightly. "- anything at all, I think they'd want to see you smiling and living your life with all your strength."

Sasuke thought that his parents would probably rather see him kill that person, but he could only think it at a distance, like everything that wasn't hate. "I'm fine," he muttered. "I don't need anything." He _didn't_. He didn't need anything except to get stronger and hate - and hate -

Then he felt Iruka's hand on his head, warm and rough, and the distance he'd been clinging to so hard was gone as if it had never existed. "I want to go back," he said, his stupid voice cracking, but _back_ wasn't back to school or to Konoha, it wasn't even back to the empty Uchiha compound, but all the way back to a sunlit kitchen and his father in a police uniform and his mother smiling at his report card and his brother promising to train with him later, back to before everything went wrong, before Itachi turned out to be nothing but a liar. He was tired of hate and tired of the distance between him and everything else and just tired, all the time. "I want to go _back_!"

He was crying now and he didn't want to be but he couldn't help it, and he wished Iruka would just go away and leave him alone. Instead Iruka swept him up into a hug and suddenly Sasuke was crying silently into Iruka's shirt, soaking it. Iruka didn't seem to care. "Ssh, it's okay," he said, and Sasuke felt his shoulders heave a little like he'd started crying too; he stroked Sasuke's hair and said, "We can't go back. We just have to keep going forward, the best that we can."

But Sasuke couldn't. There was no going back, but there was no forward either; there was nothing but darkness.

_Foolish little brother... If you want to kill me - hate me, and run!_

(He hadn't seen Itachi crying. He couldn't have. Not after what Itachi had done.)

Finally the tears stopped, and he pushed at Iruka's chest. Iruka let him go, and if he'd been crying, it didn't show; he just smiled at Sasuke and said, "Let's get back to Naruto and Lee and make sure they made something we can actually eat, okay?"

For a wonder, they had, though Sasuke wasn't about to admit it. But he ate their stupid dinner, and when Naruto punched him in the shoulder and said, "See, I can cook great!" he only shrugged it off and didn't tell Naruto to shut up. He still didn't like either of them, but he couldn't help a treacherous thought that maybe he didn't exactly hate them, either.

* * *

Miyagi had been smuggling people between the peninsula and the islands of the Land of Water since the days of the Second Mizukage, and she was widely (if covertly) known as the best in the business. Control of the peninsula had gone back and forth between Water and Fire for years before the current boundaries had been set; Miyagi considered herself loyal to neither country, but only to the tiny fishing village where she had been born and lived all her life. She was no ninja, but in the interests of protecting her home, she had gotten very, very good at spotting shinobi and other sources of potential trouble with no more than a quick look and a few seemingly innocuous questions, and in all her many years of illicit sailing she hadn't been caught once.

One look at the exhausted young man with three slightly ragged and obviously unrelated kids in tow, and she figured she'd at least hear him out. He bargained well, too; didn't pay the absurdly overinflated price she quoted him at first, but didn't act rushed or get too desperate while trying to haggle her down. Eventually she let him talk her down to just under her usual price for carrying four people - she had a soft spot for men with facial scars, what could she say - and herded the lot aboard her boat as soon as the moon was up. No sense wasting time when it was a good night to sail, with fog on the water for cover and a clear sky overhead. She'd already decided which of the kids she would ask her questions; the man was shinobi and therefore right out, the ponytail kid was too straightforward, and the sulky-looking one would be suspicious. The blond kid with a troublemaker's face who ran all over her boat asking what everything was - that one was perfect.

Miyagi cast off and bided her time.

The young man made a valiant effort at staying awake, she'd give him that much, but it was a calm night, the rocking of the boat smooth and gentle, and he'd clearly been pushing himself. He was out cold within the hour. Ponytail had sprawled out beside him and fallen asleep practically the minute they'd boarded; the suspicious kid was sitting hunched up on his other side with one of those funny-shaped shinobi knives in hand and a wary look.

After a while the blond kid got tired of exploring the boat and joined her at the back as she rowed. Great. She let him fidget a while, struggling with silence, as one of the last things the young man had said had been a warning not to bother her, but a kid like that could never stay quiet for long. Soon enough he burst out with, "Hey, auntie, do you really like rowing people around?"

"It's a living," she said. "You like it?"

"Yeah, it looks kinda cool, I guess! You get to meet lots of people and go lots of places..." He squinted into the fog. "I dunno how you know where you're going, though."

"I could do this run in my sleep if I thought the weather'd hold - practice, kid," she said, "that's all it takes." And casually, as if she didn't care about getting an answer, she asked, "You boys going to the hidden village?"

"Dunno," the kid said. "We're just gonna look around, yanno? Iruka-sen- Iruka says he's looking for the right place, but so far all we've looked at is forests, and I don't wanna live in a forest."

Miyagi relaxed at the lack of deception in the boy's voice. Not that she'd really thought this Iruka - if that was his real name - had been up to anything, but it was good to have her instincts confirmed. She'd just had the boat repainted; she would have hated to scuttle it so soon, especially since she couldn't swim as well as she used to. "That's nice, kid."

"I wouldn't mind living in Kiri, I guess - hey, auntie, did you ever go there? Is it okay? Do they have good ramen and stuff?"

"Sorry, never been." If there was one thing she didn't need, it was to attract the attention of the Bloody Mist by sailing up to the damn doorstep.

"Aww, man..." The kid started to drum his heels on the bottom of the boat, but stopped when Miyagi gave him a sharp look. Noise like that would carry for miles. After a few minutes of silence, he said, "I wish Iruka-sensei was up, I bet he knows all about Kiri. He knows lots of stuff! I dunno why he's all tired suddenly..."

Miyagi would bet her boat that young man hadn't slept more than two hours in the last two days, and probably not much more before that. "You let him rest, now," she said. "I expect he's got a lot on his mind with the three of you to look after."

"Yeah, I guess," he said, and this time stopped himself before he started kicking the boat. "It's kinda funny, yanno - I used to think he didn't like me, 'cause he was all mean and yelled at me a lot like everyone else. But after a while he didn't yell so much and he got me ramen sometimes, and then he was like, 'Hey, I'm gonna take care of you and Lee and Sasuke because you don't have parents and we'll all go somewhere cool,' and I was like, 'yeah!' 'Cause just hearing that - that he wanted to look after me - that felt so great! Though I dunno why that jerk Sasuke even bothered coming..."

A low "Shut up, dumbass" floated back to them from the prow, and the kid stuck his tongue out in the general direction of the others.

"Well, sounds to me like you got real lucky, kid," Miyagi said. Not that it was any of her damn business, but so what, she was old and she could take five minutes to care a bit if she wanted. "You tell him to take care if you get to Kiri, all right? It's no place for nice boys like yourselves."

"Huh? Why not?"

His last word turned into a huge yawn, and Miyagi tsked. "Get along back to your friends now and get some sleep yourself," she said. "It's a long ways yet, I'll wake you all when we get there."

"Okay - thanks for the ride, auntie!" He gave her a big grin ruined by another yawn, and she shooed him off towards the prow, where he promptly curled up on the bottom of the boat at Iruka's feet and started snoring.

Miyagi snorted and kept rowing. Honestly. She _was_ getting soft in her old age.

* * *

It was a beautiful night on a road near Kirigakure, and Momochi Zabuza didn't like it.

He couldn't put a finger on a reason for his unease, which just made it worse. Sure, he still wasn't as far from Kiri as he wanted to be, but the road was deserted, the moon was bright, the air was cool and as clear as it ever got around a place called Mist - if you had to be on the run from Yagura's fucking hunter-nin, it was the perfect night for it. He still had an itch in his nerves that wouldn't let up, and Haku's pet bunny making a break for freedom was damn near the last straw. He almost told Haku not to bother chasing after it, but what the hell, it couldn't take Haku that long to catch the stupid thing, and he let the boy run into the scrubby forest while he waited on the road.

Two minutes of waiting later, he was about ready to go grab Haku and get another damn rabbit sometime they weren't practically within hearing range of Kirigakure when he heard voices. Only one of them was Haku's, and his hand went to his sword.

A moment later Haku came out of the forest with empty arms, saying, "It's all right, Zabuza-san, they're not from Kiri..."

Zabuza didn't have to ask who the hell Haku meant, because right after Haku came a gaggle of brats and a tanned man with a scar across his nose and an embarrassed smile. One of the brats, a stupid-faced blond one, was hugging the rabbit and grinning like a lunatic; he waved at Zabuza with one hand and the rabbit made another bid to escape, but another of the kids with black hair in a wild ponytail grabbed it. The first brat didn't seem to notice. "Hey! Are you Haku-chan's friend?" he said. "Wow, you got a super-huge sword! Cool! Are you from Kiri? Can you do any awesome moves with that sword? Did you ever -"

"Naruto, this really isn't the time," the tanned man said, and he gave Zabuza a slight bow. "Hi, I'm Iruka - sorry for intruding, we just happened to run into your - er - into Haku-kun and helped him catch his pet." His smile had faded as soon as he got a good look at Zabuza. Well, at least he wasn't _completely_ stupid.

"It was very kind of them," Haku said, gently rescuing the rabbit from Ponytail's too-tight grip before it choked to death. "Thank you again, Lee-kun, Naruto-kun."

"It was our pleasure!" Ponytail said, and the third brat, silent up to that point, snorted. Probably the smartest one in the group, that one; he'd been hanging back and glaring at Zabuza the whole time, while the other two were practically falling over each other to babble at Haku.

"I'm sorry again for bothering you, ah - Zabuza-san, was it?" said Iruka, with another, falser smile, "but the kids did seem to hit it off... Mine are getting a bit tired of each other's company, I think."

"Great," Zabuza growled. "Glad we could help. Now -"

"Excuse me," a soft voice said, "but are any of you from Kirigakure?"

Zabuza whipped around and saw yet another fucking brat, this one with white hair in a funny zigzag part and two red dots over his eyebrows and an oddly-shaped kunai that looked like bone. If there were gods, they had to be messing with him. He was about to tell the kid to fuck off when Iruka said, "I'm afraid we aren't, at least, though perhaps Zabuza-san could help." He crouched down, resting on his heels. "I'm Iruka, what's your name?"

"Kimimaro."

"The hell did you say? I'm not -"

"What are you doing out here by yourself, Kimimaro-kun?" Iruka asked, as Zabuza considered just cutting his head off and getting the hell out of there.

"I'm lost," Kimimaro said. "I'm supposed to be fighting with everyone else, but I can't find Kirigakure - this is the first time I've been outside."

Zabuza saw the faintest shift in Iruka's pleasant expression, and a chill settled into whatever bloody, ragged thing he used for a soul. He had seen that look on the faces of a whole lot of shinobi right before they said they'd die rather than talk or give up their comrades or whatever; they had, usually at Zabuza's hands. "I see," Iruka said. "Well, I don't think we'll be going that way after all - why don't you come with us for now?"

"But I have to go to Kirigakure," Kimimaro said, with a little frown, though Zabuza could tell that this battle was already on its way to being lost. "If I don't fight, then I'm not useful, and I'll have to go back to my cell..." And there it went. All the other kids had shut up to watch the showdown, including Haku, and Zabuza didn't know why he hadn't just left already, except the whole situation was too ridiculous to believe.

Iruka's smile could have frozen over a hot spring. "Then I really think you should come with us, Kimimaro-kun," he said. "I'm sure you could be very helpful, and even if you aren't, there's absolutely no reason you should go back to a - a cell."

"Yeah, yeah, you can totally come with us!" The blond brat jumped on Iruka's back and nearly knocked him over. "Can you cook? Do you like ramen? I love ramen, it's the best, yanno! Do you wanna be a ninja too? 'Cause I -"

"Naruto, get _off_! What do you think, Kimimaro-kun?"

"I -" Kimimaro hesitated as he looked at all of them, even Zabuza, who was definitely not getting involved in this crap.

"I would be very happy if you were to join us!" Ponytail said. "Making new friends is always a welcome experience!"

The smart one shrugged and said "Whatever," confirming Zabuza's earlier impression of him.

"It's up to you, of course," said Iruka, "but we really would be happy to have you travel with us, and it wouldn't be any trouble - well, not any more trouble than this bunch already is."

"Hey, I'm not trouble! Iruka-sen- Iruka, I'm not trouble! Just 'cause I drew on Sasuke's face that one time -"

"I'll come," Kimimaro said. "If - you're sure..."

"We're absolutely sure." Iruka peeled the blond kid off his back and stood up, his smile turning real again. "Welcome to the family, Kimimaro." The two noisy brats cheered and swarmed over Kimimaro, and Zabuza decided that was all the sap he could take for the night. For the rest of his life, actually.

"C'mon, Haku," he said, "we're going." Haku was at his side immediately, and he was preparing to flash-step them both away when Iruka said, "Wait, Zabuza-san!"

"What?"

"Why don't we come with you?"

Zabuza stared at him and wondered if that scar on Iruka's face had addled his brains. It would explain the whole night so far pretty well. "Why the hell would I let you do that?"

"Well, like I said, I think my kids are getting a little sick of each other, and they really seem to like Haku," Iruka said. "And I expect you know the area much better than I do - we could use a guide."

"Absolutely not," Zabuza said flatly. "One, I don't give a crap, two, I don't work for free, and three - three -"

Haku was looking up at him with the same look he'd used when he had asked to go catch the rabbit. "They do seem like nice people," he said. "If - if it was only for a little while, Zabuza-san - it couldn't hurt, could it?"

"I don't fucking _care_!" Hell, this was going nowhere fast; it was time to stop talking and just go. "Put the damn rabbit back in its cage and we're -"

New voices echoed from up the road, and in an instant the entire group had vanished into the scant cover of the forest. In further support of Zabuza's theory that the gods were fucking with him, he ended up behind the same bush as Iruka, who was quickly making the hand-signs for a genjutsu.

A Mist ANBU appeared on the road a moment later, looking around, but they didn't seem to notice Iruka's illusion or the kids' half-assed attempts to hide. "Any sign of them?" someone out of sight called.

"Nah, looks like we got 'em all!" the ANBU yelled back. "Nothing but dirt out here! Let's go already, I need a damn drink."

The ANBU vanished, but Iruka kept up the illusion of an empty forest for a full minute before releasing it. "I wasn't quite finished," he said quietly, as the brats started crawling out of their hiding places and whispering to each other. "I think that you don't want to be caught around here any more than we do, Momochi Zabuza."

Zabuza's hand twitched towards his sword again.

"No one will be looking for you with us," Iruka continued, ignoring the twitch. "And it might not be much, but I have enough to pay your traveling expenses, if you're that desperate for money."

"I'm not -"

"I can also pay you!" Ponytail volunteered. "Iruka-san has not yet let me help pay for anything, so I still have a lot!"

"Me too, me too! Um, maybe not as much as Lee, though. Hey, if you come with us can you show me how to use your sword? I wanna learn how to use one, yanno!"

"Zabuza-san..." Haku was giving him that damned pathetic look again, and Kimimaro was watching him as if he expected Zabuza to roll over for Iruka the same way he had, and Ponytail was pulling out a wallet shaped like a damned tiger, and Zabuza was about ready to explode. This had to be a joke, all of it, and he'd never had much of a sense of humor.

"We shouldn't stay here much longer," Iruka said briskly, "the ANBU might come back - kids, stop pestering Zabuza-san. Kimimaro, is there anything you need to go get before we leave? Extra clothes? Anything?"

"No, Iruka-sama."

"Er, just Iruka is fine - all right, then. Well, Zabuza-san? Are you and Haku-kun coming?"

Under the bandages wrapped around his face, Zabuza ground his teeth.

* * *

From a safe distance, Orochimaru watched the Mist shinobi pile up the bodies of the Kaguya dead, and a slight frown of distaste crossed his face. He had heard rumors that the Kaguya's lost bloodline limit had resurfaced, and he had so hoped he might be able to get his hands on it; the clan's doomed attack on Kirigakure had certainly destroyed any chance of that. Such a waste of his time.

The Mist shinobi laughed and exchanged crude jokes as they worked. Fools. They doubtless had no idea of the possibilities they had wiped out. Ah, well. He should leave them to their clean-up and find whatever hole the Kaguya had been hiding in; there might yet be some information of use to glean from what they had left behind, and there was no sense in wasting the entirety of his trip.

Orochimaru vanished, if only he had known it, in the direction opposite to the one taken by the small group of five children and two adults that contained what he sought.


	3. Wave and River

"I think we ought to head for Suna," Iruka said.

The brats had all been put to sleep an hour ago, and their snoring was loud enough to prove it; the tiny cooking fire had burned down to embers. Zabuza had been treasuring the near-silence, something that had become a rare commodity of late, and he shot a glare at Iruka for disturbing it. "What for?"

"It probably wouldn't be the best place to stay," Iruka said, "but it would be good to settle down for a while and let the kids rest. And sleep in a real bed, for once - and have a real bath..."

Zabuza snorted. "So settle down here. They have baths in Wave, far as I know." The last week and a half of crawling along the south coast of the Land of Fire had brought them only as far as the borders of Wave Country; getting to Sunagakure, besides costing money for decent fake identification, would take another two weeks at that pace. Zabuza hated the sand and the heat anyway.

"I heard some disturbing rumors at the last town," Iruka said. "There are too many criminals trying to move in, and Leaf shinobi sometimes coming in to deal with them - I don't think it would be a good idea for either of us."

"Sounds perfect to me. Plenty of money in a situation like that for a man with the guts and the strength to make it." Zabuza grinned, but even in the dim light he could tell it wasn't as effective at intimidating at Iruka as it had been a week ago. It was hard to intimidate someone when they'd caught you carrying a kid on your back, even if it had only been to shut up Naruto's whining about his sore feet.

"It's no place for children." Iruka stirred up the fire's embers, sending a few sparks dancing into the air. "Suna isn't perfect, but at least it's at peace... We'd be safe there for a while."

Safe. Hell. What kind of shinobi, especially a missing-nin, cared about safety? A fucking former Leaf shinobi, that was who. Zabuza had figured out that much about Iruka the night they'd spent getting away from Kiri undiscovered; no village but Konoha turned out shinobi who were that soft and that stubborn at the same time. "You can take your brats wherever the hell you want," he said, "but Haku and I are done with this whole traveling orphanage thing." Criminal syndicates making a play for a country, even a poor backwater like Wave, meant gang rivalries, inconveniently located farmers, village-affiliated shinobi trying to interfere - all kinds of opportunities for a missing-nin who already had dirty hands and didn't care about getting them dirtier. Get Haku trained up as a proper tool without Iruka hanging over his shoulder talking about stupid Konoha philosophy, find the highest bidder, and get to work, that was what he needed to do. "I'm not going to Sand. Starting tomorrow you can -"

"I don't think splitting up would be a good idea, Zabuza-san."

 _Not for you_ , Zabuza thought. He could damn well take care of himself and Haku. "You don't give me orders, and if I want out, I'm getting out. You want to report me to the Leaf, that blood's gonna be on your hands as much as mine."

"Is that a threat?" Iruka said, an edge creeping into his voice.

"It's not a threat, it's a damn -"

"Iruka-sama? Is everything all right?"

Zabuza muttered a curse as Kimimaro appeared at the edge of the dying fire's light. If Kimimaro had been woken up, then Haku - sure enough, there was a gleam of orange reflected in Haku's open eyes. For all that the two of them barely spoke, they seemed to have reached some kind of weird understanding; Kimimaro had Iruka, Haku had Zabuza, and nothing that disturbed the (temporary, damn it) alliance was allowed. Zabuza wouldn't have cared, except Kimimaro had turned out to have a fucking creepy bloodline limit and a willingness to pull whole bones out of his arm whenever Zabuza got a little too loud or too close to Iruka.

"Yes, everything's fine," Iruka said, smiling, "Zabuza-san and I are just discussing something."

"Discussing. Yeah." Zabuza gritted his teeth and forced some kind of less-threatening expression onto his visible face. "Go back to sleep."

Kimimaro glanced at him before turning towards Iruka. "Are you sure, Iruka-sama?"

"I'm sure - and please, it's just Iruka." Iruka reached out and rubbed the top of Kimimaro's head, and a smile flashed across Kimimaro's usually impassive face. "Get some rest, okay?"

"Okay."

When Kimimaro had gone back and laid down with the other brats and Haku's eyes had closed again, Iruka said quietly, "If you want to stay here and make a living as a - a thug for hire, I can't stop you. But I'm not letting you drag a good kid like Haku into that kind of life."

Zabuza snarled. "Haku's _mine_!"

"If he's yours," Iruka said, "then you should be thinking about what's best for him, not just yourself."

Zabuza barely kept from gaping at him. The man had run off from the softest hidden village in the world to drag three kids around the wilderness in search of who knew what, and he had the nerve to lecture Zabuza about _what was best for the children_? Iruka must have thought something similar; his face flushed, and he hastily turned away and settled down to sleep. "It's your turn for first watch," he said. "Good night, Zabuza-san."

He had taken first watch the night before, but he was too pissed off to sleep anyway. He kicked dirt over the coals of the fire and let his eyes adjust to the lack of light, listening for the usual night sounds of the area and any changes that could signal trouble.

After several peaceful minutes, Iruka's voice rose out of the darkness again. "You're right about one thing, though."

"What."

"There are baths in Wave Country..."

If Zabuza cut the throats of all the useless ones while they slept, maybe he could tell Haku and Kimimaro bandits had done it and still keep them as tools.

* * *

The attendant looked at them strangely - as well she might, Iruka thought while he counted out the entrance fees; even leaving out Zabuza looming over everyone with a murderous expression, the rest of them definitely looked the worse for wear after weeks of travel, and they made for a pretty mixed bunch to begin with. She took Iruka's money and wished them a pleasant time with only a slight twitch in one eyelid as she handed out towels and soap, and the moment Iruka turned away to start herding kids toward the door to the locker room she was whispering to her fellow attendant.

"You're going to get us all caught and executed," Zabuza hissed in his ear while Iruka folded Kimimaro's shirt to put in a locker - the kids had been the first out of their clothes and had gone into the baths already to start cleaning up.

"I don't think it's very likely," Iruka said, wondering if he could find a coin laundry in town before they left. It seemed like a shame to get a proper bath and then have to put on clothes that hadn't had a good wash in weeks. "Classified bingo books aren't usually handed out to bathhouse attendants, and so far there's no sign of anyone after me and my kids." He was starting to worry about that; it was one thing for no one to miss him or Lee, but Naruto had been under watch for years, and Sasuke was the last heir of one of the village's oldest clans. He couldn't understand the lack of pursuit, though he was grateful for it.

"When some asshole breaks in here to arrest us," Zabuza said, "I'm leaving you all behind."

Sasuke stuck his head out of the other room and said, "Are you guys coming? Because Naruto is daring Kimimaro to make a shower cap out of his skull."

"Better hurry up and strip, Zabuza-san," Iruka said. "Including the wrappings on your face, please," and he ducked into the baths before Zabuza could protest.

Fortunately, since it was the middle of the day, there were only a couple of old men already soaking in the bath and chatting to each other, and Iruka was able to convince Kimimaro that a regular shower cap would work just fine before any of them noticed the ridge of bone Kimimaro had started pulling out of his head. Naruto's disappointment didn't last long; moments later he was trying to argue with Sasuke over who got to go first.

Iruka broke it up before Sasuke started arguing back - honestly, the place was practically empty, there was room enough for everyone - and said, "Okay, anyone want me to -"

Kimimaro's hand shot up, followed a beat later by Naruto and Lee's.

"- help wash their hair?" Iruka sighed. "At least let me finish the question - anyway, I only have two hands, so Kimimaro and - hm -"

"It's all right to choose Naruto, Iruka-san," Lee said, "Zabuza-san can help wash mine and Haku's!"

Zabuza walked in just in time to hear this and turned an accusing glare on Iruka.

"It wasn't my idea," Iruka said. "If you don't want to, of course, I'll -"

"It would be very kind of you, Zabuza-san," Haku said with a perfectly straight face. "And more efficient, too, I think."

Sasuke snorted. "What are you, babies? Wash your own hair," he said, and Iruka gave him a warning look. Most of the time he was grateful that Sasuke had begun saying more than "shut up," but he wasn't sure that constant scorn directed at everyone but Zabuza and Iruka was that much of an improvement.

"Whatever, you're just jealous no one wants to touch your goofy hair," Naruto said, sticking out his tongue, and Sasuke scowled back. Naruto ignored him. "Hey, Zabuza-san, you do know how to wash someone's hair, right? 'Cause yours is super short so maybe you don't have to -"

"Naruto!" Iruka grabbed him by the head and forced him down onto a stool; Kimimaro had already chosen one and was waiting patiently.

"Don't worry, it's very easy!" Lee said, holding a bottle of shampoo out to Zabuza. "Although if you insist I can -"

Zabuza yanked the bottle out of his hand. "Just shut up and sit down," he growled, and Naruto and Lee exchanged grins.

Iruka watched Zabuza out of the corner of his eye while he rubbed shampoo into Naruto and Kimimaro's hair. The lack of bandages over Zabuza's mouth made a strange difference in his appearance; he was less intimidating, somehow, even with the occasional flashes of pointed teeth. Not handsome, exactly, but certainly - interesting-looking. And surprisingly gentle as he washed Haku and Lee's hair, which was improving Iruka's opinion of him a little, and there was something oddly charming about the way his lower lip occasionally caught on a tooth as he concentrated...

"I-ru-ka! Hey, Iruka! Are you _done_ yet?"

"Er - yes, sorry, just a minute." He hurriedly tore his eyes away from Zabuza and dipped a bucket in the trough of steaming water along the wall to empty over the kids' heads and rinse out the shampoo. Glancing over, he saw that Zabuza had finished with Lee and Haku, so he said, "All right, you can all get in the bath now - last one in is a _Naruto and Lee don't you dare jump in_!"

The pair skidded to a guilty halt on the tiled floor as Sasuke stalked past them with a superior look on his face; Haku had already slipped into the bath without Iruka noticing.

"Last one in is a what, Iruka-sama?" Kimimaro asked.

"Never mind," Iruka said, "it's not important - go ahead and get in, Zabuza-san and I will be there in just a couple of minutes." He kept his face carefully neutral as he said, "Zabuza-san, if you'd like any help, I'd be happy to -"

"Don't fucking push it."

Finally getting to settle into the blissfully hot water was exactly as wonderful as Iruka had dreamed it would be, although his fantasies had generally been a lot quieter and not involved Sasuke threatening to drown Naruto if he splashed Sasuke one more time. Or Zabuza's presence, although he did appreciate having a second pair of eyes on the door. More than that, though, he appreciated the bath and Haku's willingness to help keep an eye on the other kids. Such a sweet and responsible boy - what he was doing with a man like Zabuza Iruka just couldn't understand.

He watched the group of kids for a couple of minutes, just to make sure they weren't going to accidentally bother the old men at the other end of the bath, but they were behaving about as well as could be expected, so he leaned back and relaxed, letting vague plans drift across his mind. Coin laundry, right, he needed to look for one; his funds were getting a little low - no thanks to the exorbitant amount of food Zabuza ate, probably out of spite - but not so low that he had to touch Lee or Sasuke or Naruto's savings. Though maybe he'd let them run around and get some things for themselves, they deserved it for handling the trip so well so far... Oh, maybe clothes, too. Kimimaro needed more than the single outfit he'd had on him, and Sasuke could do with some new shirts; Iruka had managed to remove or cover over all the Uchiha symbols, but not very well, and the results stood out almost as badly as the fans would have. Definitely clothes. And ramen. But laundry first...

"Iruka, Zabuza-san! Hey, you awake?"

Naruto had waded over and was waving his hand in front of their faces. Zabuza grunted; Iruka said, "Yes, what is it?"

"Me and Lee were talking, right," Naruto said, "and you guys are basically like our dads now, yanno, so we were thinking, Zabuza can be Grumpy Dad and Iruka can be Nice Dad so we don't get confused. Sasuke doesn't care and Kimimaro wants to stick with 'Iruka-sama' 'cause he's weird like that and Haku says he's okay with -"

"Kid," Zabuza said, "if you don't go away right now I'm going to put you headfirst through a wall."

Naruto just laughed and splashed away to try dunking Sasuke, sparking a free-for-all water wrestling match; Zabuza stared after him, then said, "Has he always been that dumb, or did you drop him on his head before you got to Kiri?"

"Well..." Iruka sank a little deeper into the water, thinking it over. "He's not exactly top-of-the-class material, no. But he can be surprisingly perceptive, sometimes - maybe he sees something about you that you just aren't aware of yet."

"Maybe he's too stupid to live," Zabuza said and suddenly grinned, baring his teeth. "Maybe I ought to teach 'em all a few lessons about what it _really_ means to be a ninja."

"I'd prefer it if you didn't, thank you." The last thing Iruka needed was Zabuza telling _any_ of the kids stories about his past in Kirigakure, particularly Sasuke. Iruka didn't know the details of what had happened to the Uchiha clan, but the little he'd heard before they left Konoha had given him chills; he didn't want Zabuza to remind Sasuke of any bad memories, especially if they were all going to keep traveling together.

Zabuza muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "Fucking Leaf," but let it drop. Iruka tried to relax back into the bath and failed miserably. Now that he was actually thinking about it and not just running on instinct - why the hell _had_ he decided they ought to travel with Zabuza? Getting so hopelessly lost that they'd ended up near Kirigakure was not a good reason, however true it happened to be; neither was wanting someone to talk to who was older than ten, although in the privacy of his own mind he could admit that was also true. Even to himself he didn't want to admit that he might have been hoping he could talk Haku away from Zabuza, an idea that had lasted all of maybe two days' travel. Zabuza might have been the Demon of the Bloody Mist, but in Haku's eyes the man could do no wrong.

Iruka found his gaze drifting away from watching the entrance and over to Zabuza. Of course, Zabuza wasn't exactly what Iruka had been expecting from his reputation, either. Coarse and bloodthirsty, yes, but - he didn't think he had been too far off the mark when he'd said Naruto saw something in Zabuza that he didn't know about. Iruka wished that he could see it, too; it would take one set of worries off his mind, at least.

"Hey, Zabuza-san? Iruka?" Naruto had come back, and before Iruka could ask him what the matter was Zabuza said, "What the hell do you want?"

"Geez, you don't have to be so cranky," Naruto said, "I was just yanking your chain about calling you Grumpy Dad, yanno... Anyway, are we gonna stay here long? Like, maybe overnight? One of the old guys said they have a super nice inn here, so can we stay there instead of camping tonight? Can we?"

"Hm - well..." One night couldn't hurt, could it? And it would give him time to run all those errands he'd been thinking of, and if they shared rooms it shouldn't be too terribly expensive...

Just then a trio of men with tattoos twining around their arms came in from the locker room, laughing loudly over something. "- look on his face," the shortest of them said between laughs, "when that ninja just poofed outta there - who cares how long it takes to find that Leaf bastard again, totally worth it for the boss's expression!"

"Eh, you say that now..."

Iruka and Zabuza exchanged glances over Naruto's head; a subtle shift in Zabuza's expression was somehow adequate to convey the possibility of slitting the men's throats and making a quick getaway. Iruka shook his head slightly and ruffled Naruto's hair. "I'm afraid not," he said, with sincere regret in his voice - a real bed would have been nice. "Maybe next time."

"Aww..." The disappointment on Naruto's face stung badly. Iruka would have to find a way to explain later, make it up to them all somehow - damn it, if only those men hadn't walked in! No, they shouldn't have stayed anyway, but to find out just like that there were Konoha shinobi around... So much for the coin laundry, and the rest of Iruka's errands.

Haku appeared and rested a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Don't feel too bad, Naruto-kun," he said, "you can help me take care of Usa-chan when we get back to camp," which made Naruto grin and cheer - he loved that rabbit almost more than Haku did. Haku's eyes, however, were fixed on Zabuza's face with a certain wariness. "Are we leaving now?"

"Yeah, get the other brats together and get out of here," Zabuza said.

"If you'd be so kind," Iruka added. "Naruto, that includes you - go on ahead, we'll meet you outside."

"Man," Naruto said, "this has to be the longest camping trip ever. We should get, like, a world record prize or something." But he obediently waded off with Haku, and after a minute or so of spirited arguing, all the kids but Kimimaro had gotten out. Kimimaro simply moved to sit between Iruka and Zabuza, watching the tattooed men with a slight frown.

"Kimimaro, why don't you go with the others?" Iruka said. "And don't stare at people, it's rude." Not to mention likely to attract the trio's attention, which wouldn't make it any easier to get out of the bathhouse without looking suspicious.

"Because something is wrong, isn't it? About those men." Kimimaro's frown deepened. "I won't let anything happen to you, Iruka-sama."

"Nothing is -" No, better not to lie if he didn't have to. "I heard them mention a shinobi, and we don't want to run into any trouble with shinobi or anyone else, okay? That's all. So we need to leave without them taking any special notice of us."

"Oh." Kimimaro considered this for a moment. "All right."

"Will you two move your asses already?"

As they left, Iruka saw a swirl of dull red on the floor where the tattooed men had washed up, and his stomach twisted a little. He should stay. He should find the shinobi - it had to be someone from Konoha, who else would get hired for problems in Wave? - find them and offer to help, do whatever he could to assist them in their mission... And face execution as a missing-nin if he did. If he was lucky, and whether he was lucky or not, the kids - Naruto, Sasuke, Lee, Kimimaro - they would all have to live with the consequences of his decision to leave the village. The real weight of the duties and comrades he had abandoned hit him then for the first time, and he froze.

"Iruka." Zabuza's voice was as non-hostile as Iruka had ever heard it. "Move it now, regrets later."

Iruka blinked, swallowed past the knot in his throat, and took a step forward. Right. They had to keep moving. Kimimaro took his hand and suddenly it was easy to keep going, to join the others in the locker room and dry off and get their clothes out of the lockers and get dressed. Regrets later, if he was going to have them. And thinking about it, there should still be time for at least one of those errands he'd been considering...

As the group waited at a ramen stall for their orders to be filled, Iruka said, "You know, I think that was the first time you've actually called me by my name."

"I wouldn't get used to it if I were you," Zabuza said.

* * *

The tall girl introduced herself as Miyu, after a short, flat pause, and explained that she was looking for her eight-year-old cousin, who had run away from home with some friends and a strange man. The entire family was terribly worried, was there any chance that they had seen him? She could give a complete description of him, and of the other boys, too.

Momoko consulted with her coworker Nami in hurried whispers - _don't look alike at all_ \- _well, the way she looks at you, though_ \- _didn't mention the other two, or that scary_ \- _seemed so nice, you wouldn't think he_ \- _never know, better to_ \- before saying, "Well, we did have a group like that in a few days ago, but they didn't stay very long. And they must have met up with some friends, too, because there were five boys, not three, and another man -"

"A _scary_ one," Nami said, with a delicate shudder. "He didn't even have _eyebrows_! I was surprised he didn't make any trouble, peeping or - or getting into a fight!"

"I see," Miyu said. "And Sasuke? Was he unharmed?"

Momoko blinked at hearing it put so clinically. "Um, he certainly looked like he needed a bath," she said. "But he didn't look hurt or anything, no - just dirty. And a bit grumpy, I guess. Even after bathing! Which I can assure you is _not_ the case with our baths normally, we have the finest -"

"Meaningless hyperbole in the hopes of gaining more business. Did any of them happen to mention where they were going?"

"Uh - what?"

"No?" Nami said. "They weren't very chatty, really, not even the nice one, and they left right after those creeps of Gato's showed up, and who could blame them, those people are always causing trouble, I mean - well, you know the type!"

"Your information is a little useful, at least," said Miyu, and after another of those short pauses, she added a flat, "Thank you."

It was a real shame, Nami and Momoko agreed later. Such a pretty girl, and so naturally, you know, well-endowed - she could've had the whole town falling for her if she'd just put a little effort into acting like a person and not a puppet.

* * *

Other people might have thought him strange for it, but Rock Lee was having the time of his life. He had friends who mostly didn't judge him for being unable to use ninjutsu, he had Iruka teaching him _personally_ \- not just as part of a class - and helping him understand things, and he got to spend lots of time training while they walked and seeing new places, even if most of the new places were just different kinds of forests. It was completely unlike his life in Konoha, and he thought it was wonderful.

"- and the enemy is 30 meters away, how much will you have to compensate for the wind?"

Well, the math was not very wonderful. But otherwise, Lee was definitely enjoying himself, even while he tried to figure out the right answer. Kimimaro already had his hand up, of course; he was strangely ignorant in some areas, but very good at others, and always eager to impress Iruka.

"Thanks, Kimimaro," Iruka said, "but you answered the last five questions, so let's let someone else answer - Lee?" Kimimaro lowered his hand without apparent disappointment.

"Er - um -" How was he supposed to calculate that again? There was a formula or something, surely. "Um..."

"Are you training them to be shinobi or math teachers?" Zabuza said, without turning around from his place at the head of the group. He had been leading the way lately, since he claimed he didn't care about teaching them anything and knew his way around the Land of Rivers, but he always helped them train in the mornings now instead of just working with Haku, which Lee also considered quite wonderful; Zabuza was highly skilled in taijutsu, Lee's one strength.

"It's important to have a good understanding of the basics," said Iruka. "Lee, do you have an answer yet?"

"You'd just aim a couple of degrees to the left," Sasuke said before Lee could make a guess. "It's easy."

"Right, that!" Lee said. "Thank you for your assistance, Sasuke!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Next time, please let Lee answer," Iruka said. "Even if it takes him a while. Now, Naruto, this one is for you - if you can run at a constant speed of thirty kilometers an hour, and it takes you three hours and forty-five minutes to reach -"

"Could you give it a rest for _two_ minutes?" It was the sort of thing Zabuza said frequently, but the emphasis on the number seemed peculiar, and Iruka did not argue with him as usual; instead he said, "You can have one minute."

"Just one?" Zabuza said. "I'm going to lose my edge..."

Lee started to ask them both how one minute of Iruka not teaching could affect Zabuza's "edge," but they vanished at the same moment and Kimimaro yanked him and Naruto back just as a length of thick, black chain shot through the air where Iruka had been.

"Holy crap!" Naruto was already digging through his pockets for his single non-blunted kunai. "C'mon, we gotta help fight!" Kimimaro nodded and began to pull a long, edged piece of bone out of his left arm; Lee didn't have any weapons, but he struck his best taijutsu stance and looked around for any sign of the enemy. On Naruto's other side, Sasuke had his hands filled with shuriken, and Haku had disappeared along with Zabuza.

Lee strained his ears, but he could only hear the breeze stirring the leaves around them, and there was no follow-up attack to the chain, which lay in a coiled heap on the ground. How strange; Zabuza always seemed to talk a lot when they were training, usually insults, so Lee thought that he ought to be able to hear Zabuza fighting, at least. But there was no sign of either Zabuza or Iruka.

Something clinked behind him, and he whirled around to find Haku with a small shield of ice covering himself and Kimimaro's back. A kunai had just bounced off the ice, and a moment later a tall man with swept-up dark hair and ragged black clothes appeared, looming over them. "Just kids," he said. "The hell are a bunch of brats doing out in the middle of nowhere?"

A wave of burning anger swept over Lee - just kids! He would show this stranger what the students of Konoha could do! - and he sprang at the man, only dimly aware that Naruto was doing the same. Before either of them could strike Haku had grabbed them by the backs of their shirts and pulled them behind the ice shield. "Please don't do anything foolish," he said, "Iruka-san wouldn't like that."

"But he said that we were _just kids_! I cannot let this insult stand!" Lee took up his stance again and glared fiercely at the stranger.

The stranger smirked and drew a length of heavy chain from somewhere on his back. "This is gonna be like taking candy from a -"

One of Sasuke's shuriken struck him in the forehead, but unfortunately didn't stick. He snarled, wiped away a streak of blood, and the edge of a tanned hand slammed into the side of his neck. He collapsed, only to reveal Iruka standing behind him looking winded, with another unconscious stranger draped across his back. "Thank you for looking after everyone, Haku," he said. "And good shot, Sasuke - although it's probably better if you aim at somewhere with more flesh for now, until you've built up some muscle." He looked around as he eased the second missing-nin off his back and to the ground. "Where's Zabuza-san? He should have -"

"Handling the third one," Zabuza growled as he appeared with yet another stranger slung over one shoulder and dripping blood. "There were three of the bastards. Some sensor you -"

"Oh, I understand now!" Lee said, overcome with excitement at his realization. "It was a code! 'Two minutes' means 'two _enemies_ ,' but it sounds like a normal part of your conversation, so anyone who listens would not suspect that you knew they were there!"

"Well-spotted, Lee," Iruka said, smiling, and Lee blushed with happiness. Hah! This would surely make up for his earlier inability to answer Iruka's question.

"Better hope there isn't a fourth one out there listening." Zabuza dumped the stranger on his shoulder over the other two's bodies. "Now what?"

"Hmm." Iruka scrutinized the three unconscious missing-nin and absent-mindedly pulled Naruto away before he could kick any of them. "This is a problem - we can't have them following us..."

"So slit their throats," Zabuza said.

"Er," Lee said, "that's a bit - it doesn't seem very nice..." Had Zabuza always looked _quite_ so threatening? Perhaps it was just the streaks of blood on his shoulder and chest, which there was more of than Lee had realized at first, and come to think of it, was the missing-nin Zabuza had caught actually breathing?

"It's not _supposed_ to be nice, brat," growled Zabuza, "it's supposed to be convenient, so we can get the hell out of here before more of them show up."

"But I mean - like, you guys beat them already," Naruto said, "so you can't just hurt them more, that's against the rules or something, right, Iruka?" But Iruka didn't answer right away, and Lee was very glad when Naruto edged closer to him, their shoulders bumping. "Iruka? You're not gonna do that, right?"

A long moment of hesitation, then Iruka said, "No - no, of course not. Hm - if we tie them up well enough, maybe -"

"Don't fucking play around!" Zabuza grabbed the front of Iruka's shirt, glaring into his eyes, and Lee and Naruto tensed up. "If you don't have the guts to do it I'll kill them myself, but you'd better not -" He stopped at the pressure of a bone blade against his side.

"Let Iruka-sama _go_ ," Kimimaro said from behind Zabuza, and Lee breathed a tiny sigh of relief. Of course Kimimaro would not let anything happen to Iruka! And surely Zabuza would come to his senses and stop saying such terrible things now that he realized he had frightened Kimimaro.

"Kimimaro, please don't do anything rash," Iruka said, his eyes still locked with Zabuza's. "We'll settle this ourselves. Zabuza-san, this is not the Bloody Mist, and I won't allow you to -"

"You won't _allow_ \- you lily-livered Leaf worm, I'm going to -"

"May I make a suggestion?" Haku said softly; he put one restraining hand over Kimimaro's. "If these are missing-nin, there could be a bounty on them - it might be worthwhile to take them to a town and find out."

Iruka's face lit up. "Great idea!" he said. "If I remember right, there should be a decent-sized town a couple hours north of here we can take them to - ah, but we can't all go, that'd stand out too much. Hmm..."

"Heh," Zabuza said, letting go of Iruka's shirt, and Lee could just see the shape of a grin under his facial bandages. "How about I take 'em? You lot can just wait here for me, long as you want."

Lee saw nothing wrong with that plan - Zabuza was bigger than Iruka, probably big enough to carry all three of the missing-nin by himself - but Iruka looked unhappy at the suggestion. "I'm not sure that's the best idea," he said. "It'd be better if we both go."

"Nah, you'd just slow me down." Zabuza was already picking up the missing-nin he'd caught and slinging them back over his shoulder, causing a groan which brought a great deal of relief to Lee's heart. He heaved one of the other two onto his other shoulder and said, "Haku, get the last one. We'll see you later - maybe."

"Please wait!" Lee said, searching through his pockets and ignoring the baffled looks from Naruto and Iruka. "Zabuza-san, since you're going into town, could you please - er - could you please get me some curry powder? We ran out..." He found his wallet and held a handful of ryo out towards Zabuza, who was staring at him with an unreadable expression. Lee swallowed - Zabuza really could be very intimidating - but didn't lower his hand. After that fight, he thought it would be good to show that there were no hard feelings. "Um - any brand is okay! Medium-hot, please."

"Lee," said Iruka, "I don't think -"

"Sure thing, brat," Zabuza said, and he reached out and took the ryo from Lee's hand. "I'll get you some curry powder."

"Thank you!" Lee smiled as widely as he could, hoping for a responding smile, but Zabuza just pocketed the money and turned away. Haku gave Lee an apologetic look as he picked up the third missing-nin with only a little effort, and then he and Zabuza disappeared into the forest.

Lee turned back to the others and saw that Iruka was giving him a strangely sad look. After a moment, he sighed and ruffled Lee's hair. "You're really a good kid, Lee," he said. "I just hope - never mind. We might as well get comfortable while we wait, I suppose... At least it's not a bad spot to camp out."

"I'm sure Zabuza-san will be back soon," Lee said, "even if it takes him a while to find curry!"

"Are you _stupid_?" Sasuke demanded, and Lee looked around, startled; it was the first time Sasuke had spoken since the attack. Lee saw that he still held a shuriken, clenched so tightly in his left hand that a thin trickle of blood was leaking through his fingers. "He's not coming back."

"Hey, don't talk like that!" Naruto bumped his shoulder against Lee's again, which Lee appreciated, and said, "Zabuza's gonna be back - I mean, yeah, he was kinda creepy just now, but he must be okay, really, or Haku wouldn't hang out with him, yanno? And Iruka wouldn't -"

"He's a murderer, you idiot!" Sasuke's face had gone even paler than usual, and there was a look in his dark eyes that Lee hadn't seen in weeks. "He's a killer, just like - you think he's been joking all those times he threatened you and he's not, he would do it and he wouldn't even care!"

"That's enough," Iruka said. "I know we're all on edge right now, but you shouldn't yell at Lee and Naruto... Let me look at that hand, all right?"

Sasuke flinched back as Iruka reached for his bleeding hand. "Don't touch me! You're just as bad as he is, you were going to - you would have let him -"

Lee waited for Iruka to deny it, for Naruto or Kimimaro to jump in with a defense, for himself to speak up, but he remembered Iruka's earlier hesitation too well and the words of protest died in his throat. It wasn't that he _really_ thought Iruka would have killed the missing-nin, but - what if Naruto hadn't spoken up? What if Haku hadn't suggested taking the missing-nin to town?

Just for a moment, Iruka looked as if he might cry; then his expression grew firmer and he said, "Zabuza was raised and trained in a very different village from Konoha, and Kirigakure - well, it wasn't known as the Bloody Mist for no reason... That doesn't mean I'll let him hurt any of you, or anyone else - no matter what we run into, and no matter what he says. You three got that? Now, Sasuke, give me that hand."

This time, Sasuke didn't pull away when Iruka took his hand, gently pried the shuriken out of it, and bandaged the thin cuts, but he kept a wary eye on Iruka the entire time, and after Iruka was done he retreated several paces away and turned his back to them all.

Although it was a pleasant, sunny afternoon, the wait for Zabuza and Haku's return stretched out in a cold and unhappy silence. Sasuke continued to avoid the entire group; Iruka, who under normal circumstances would have been taking advantage of the time to teach them, just sat on a fallen log and watched everyone else. Lee and Naruto tried to amuse themselves, but Naruto's heart wasn't in any of their usual games, and eventually Lee had to admit that he wasn't feeling very playful, either. They ended up sitting together between Sasuke and Iruka, drawing in the spongy dirt with sticks. Only Kimimaro was willing to go near Iruka; he sat beside Iruka on the log, being perfectly quiet and still, and Iruka would occasionally pat him on the head. (Naruto and Lee had long since come to the wordless agreement that Kimimaro was a little weird.)

Life wasn't seeming quite as wonderful anymore, Lee thought miserably as he scratched a Konoha symbol into the ground. He ought to be find something to say that would make everything better, so that Sasuke would talk to them again and Iruka would teach them and - well, things would be fixed. There had to be something he could do! It just wasn't coming to him.

As it began to grow dark, Lee's gloomy reverie was interrupted by Iruka saying, "If we're going to spend the night here, we should set up camp. Kimimaro, there was a stream a little ways back - could you go get some water for us? And Lee, Naruto, I'd appreciate it if you'd get some firewood - Sasuke, you can help me set up here."

Lee sprang to his feet, happy to have something concrete to do at last. As Kimimaro slipped away towards the stream, Lee started to look around for good firewood and felt a tap on his head; he jumped and spun around, raising the stick in his hand. If Naruto wanted a practice fight before getting the firewood, then a practice fight he'd -

"Got your damn curry powder, kid," Zabuza said, shoving a box into Lee's free hand, and Lee fumbled and nearly dropped it. "Didn't have a lot of selection, so no whining if you don't like it."

Lee turned the box over and saw a familiar penguin logo. His favorite brand! "Thank you so much, Zabuza-san!" He beamed up at the man. "This is perfect! I am very much in your debt!"

Zabuza just grunted and brushed past Lee and an open-mouthed Naruto; as Lee hugged the box of curry powder to his chest, Haku appeared and held out a few coins. "Your change," he said, smiling. "I'm sorry we took so long, it - the town was farther away than we thought."

"It's fine!" Lee said. Overwhelming relief had swept him away, well past caring how long they had waited. "I hope it was a successful trip!"

"You came back," Sasuke said, and Lee turned around to see Sasuke staring at Zabuza as if the man had grown another head in his absence. "I thought you weren't - but -"

"Get used to disappointment," Zabuza said, settling on a fallen log and ignoring Sasuke's stares.

"You really came back," said Iruka; Lee wondered why he sounded so surprised. Surely Iruka hadn't doubted that Zabuza would return?

"Yeah, well," Zabuza growled, "the streets in Suna better be paved with fucking gold."

Unexpectedly, Iruka laughed; there was something marvelously light and joyful in his laugh that took the last shreds of doubt and concern from Lee's heart. "You'll just have to stick with us and see," he said, "but I think - what is it, Lee?"

Lee had been waving his arms - and the box of curry powder - to try and get Iruka's attention. Now he said happily, "Iruka! Now that we have curry powder again, can we have curry tonight for dinner?"

"Aww, man," Naruto groaned, "I was gonna ask for ramen, yanno!"

"But, Naruto, curry is the best meal for bringing together -"

"Sure, we can have curry," Iruka said, with another easy laugh. "But first we're going to need firewood, so get cracking, you two! Sasuke, are you helping me set up or not? Haku, you can help too if you're not too tired, I'm sure it was a long trip..."

Lee tucked the box of curry powder carefully into his belt, then realized with a start that Naruto had already begun collecting sticks and had half an armful. That wouldn't do! He could hardly let Naruto outdo him in getting firewood - he would have to get just as much firewood as Naruto did! No, twice as much! And with the fires of resolve burning bright within him, he threw himself into gathering the firewood to help cook the curry that they would all eat together.

* * *

_Her eyes, always the clear bright green of the sea in sunlight, now dimmed to a stormy grey with unshed tears. "My dearest friend," she cried, her ample bosom heaving with emotion, "how could you ever believe I would betray you over such an unworthy person?" She clasped Aoi's hand in her own and pressed it to her -_

The sharp _bang_ of the door slamming open startled Jin out of his deep reading trance; he shoved a battered receipt between the pages to mark his place and slid the book under the counter, then looked up to see who had entered the shop so rudely. It was a whole crowd of kids, Jin's least favorite sort of visitors, and he suppressed a wince as the last one in - a shrimpy little boy in orange - let the door bang shut behind him. He was already drawing up complaints in his head for their parents as they swarmed over the shelves of paper and racks of pens and brushes, and then the two men walked in. One was a little shorter than the other and they were both in civilian clothes, but the way their eyes flickered over the store to check for threats - oh no. Oh dear. He knew he should have quit taking shinobi business long ago, but he hadn't had any customers of their sort in over a year and he'd rather hoped that meant the demand for his services was being filled by someone else.

Tsubame was hovering by a rack of kitschy greeting cards while the shorter shinobi gathered up the children; Jin saw her open her mouth to greet the new customers and said, "Tsubame, why don't you take a break? I'll see to these fine gentlemen myself."

"Boss, I just had a break like -"

"Please, Tsubame?" Jin said, smiling widely. "It will be a paid break, of course. Go get some tea or something, you work so hard."

"Well, if you _say_ so," Tsubame said, though she still looked doubtful as she pulled her own book out of its hiding place in the greeting cards and went out, most likely to the tea shop two doors down where she spent most of her time.

The taller shinobi, who had snorted at being called a "fine gentleman," leaned over the counter to give Jin an intimidating stare. Jin gave him full marks for terrifying aura and effective use of physical presence, but felt the intimidation was slightly ruined by one of the children popping up beside him and peeping over the counter with round eyes and an adorable attempt at a fierce expression. The boy's serious face had the opposite of its intended effect, giving Jin the confidence to say, "Er - may I help you?"

"I heard you're the person to go to for - paperwork," the man said.

"I think you may, ah, may have misheard," Jin said, hoping he might still be able to avoid getting involved. "I do sell paper, ink, brushes, other stationery products, but I'm not in - in any sort of _shady business_ , as you seem to be -"

"No, I am quite certain this is the right shop," the boy piped up, "Furuda-san was very precise when he gave us directions and described it perfectly! This is definitely the same shop!"

The man's glare cracked slightly to reveal pure irritation, a feeling Jin could sympathize with, though for a different reason. Of course it had been Furuda; the man was such a gossip, honestly, it was a wonder Jin wasn't _besieged_ with shinobi.

"Anyway, it is very important that we speak to you before we go to Suna," the boy said, still serious. "At least, that's what Zabuzmmf snnnf!"

The shinobi had muffled the boy with one hand; he growled, "Let me handle this, kid. So, you do paperwork or what? We lost ours. On the road." His glare dared Jin to question the flimsy excuse.

"I - yes," said Jin, defeated. "I can - er, draw up whatever you need. Will this be just for you two gentleman, or do your - I mean, did the children also lose their papers?"

"Mmf fffngh?"

The other shinobi appeared with the rest of the children and freed the boy from the first man's hand. This shinobi had a scar across his nose, but a softer look in general, and he smiled as he said, "I'm sorry, I hope these two haven't scared you off - yes, I'm afraid we're all going to need papers. Sooner would be better, but I understand if it might take a while..."

"Hey, mister!" The boy in orange had popped up, standing on tiptoe to see over the counter. "Do we keep our names or do we get to pick new ones? I want a really cool name, yanno! Like - uh - Arashi! Yeah, that's a cool name, I want that one! I can be Arashi, right? Right?"

"Ahh! But that was the name I was going to choose!" the round-eyed boy said.

"Heh, really? Wanna jan-ken-pon for it? Loser has to -"

"Will you lot be _quiet_?" The scar-faced shinobi grabbed the two boys and pulled them away from the counter, giving Jin another embarrassed smile. "Sorry again - ah, do you need the kids here? I can throw them out if they're just going to be a distraction - yes, I'm talking to you two, I haven't noticed Kimimaro or Sasuke getting into the ink bottles or knocking over the paper!"

"Oh yeah, well, perfect Kimimaro _never_ gets in _any_ trouble 'cause if you yelled at him he'd like, poof out of existence -"

"You promised not to tell Iruka-sama about that!"

"Why don't we go and discuss this in the back?" Jin suggested, nervously eying the door of the store lest anyone come through it. The last thing he needed was to give Furuda _more_ suspicious activity to gossip about. "All of us. I'll just flip the sign and we can, er, get down to business for your trip to - Suna, did you say?"

As he escorted the group to the back room where he did his special work, Jin found himself wishing that the two shinobi would go back and _eviscerate_ Furuda to cover their tracks, if it would just mean he'd never have to go through this sort of rigmarole again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the horribly long wait! I can't promise that the next chapter will be any quicker because of - reasons (such as the fact it's about three sentences long right now), but this one has been done for a while, so please enjoy it, and - well, we'll see how long my sudden burst of Naruto fic energy lasts. /o\


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